BRUNSSUM, Netherlands -- Turkish scoring machine Nuri Karaca poured in 23 points Saturday as the AFNORTH Lions downed the Bitburg Barons, 67-56, in a non-regional match-up of two Division II schools.

Jamil Pollock and Jake Schmidt, who snared 13 defensive rebounds, each added 14 points for the Lions (2-3 overall) against a Bitburg team (2-1) which lost for the first time this season.

“Their overall team speed was a factor throughout the game,” AFNORTH coach Nate Goolsby wrote in a Saturday E-mail. “We were not really able to pull away from them and stay out in front because of how fast they were in transition.”

C.J. Evans paced Bitburg with 14 points; his teammate Erik Matos added 11, according to Goolsby, who closed with praise for his own team.

“The team played well overall,” he wrote about the Lions, who rebounded from tough four- and eight-point pre-holiday losses to International School of Brussels of Division I, “sharing the ball and covering each other on the defensive end of the court.”

AFNORTH next entertains Brussels of Division III in a Region I game on Friday; the Lions will play at Brussels on Saturday. Bitburg next faces Region II tests Tuesday at Ramstein and Friday and Saturday at Wiesbaden.

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